


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by night_in_transit



Series: The End of the World as We Know it [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, America, American Football, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Football Captain Thor, High School, Kissing in the Rain, Loki and Thor Are Not Related, Lots of rain, M/M, Marvel Norse Lore, Minor Jane Foster/Thor, Mythology - Freeform, Norway (Country), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Loki (Marvel), POV Third Person Limited, Rain, Reincarnation, Rivals, Self-Discovery, Senior year, Soft Punk Loki, Tags May Change, last year of high school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 01:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15304638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/night_in_transit/pseuds/night_in_transit
Summary: After several long minutes of silence, Borson asked, "what's your name?""Why?" he asked back without looking up."Curious."Loki paused and examined Borson out of the corner of his eye. Just as quickly, he returned to the lock. "It's Loki."Borson made a humming sound and then said, "mine's Thor.""I know," he told him, even though he didn't.Loki Svell and Thor Borson share an unlikely connection--a connection never before recorded in history. An accidental meeting in their last year of high school takes them on adventures from the American suburbs to the ancient castles of Norway and beyond the places of living man. Together, they rediscover a past that spans millennias and attempt to make sense of the connection only they seem to share--all while trying to make it on time to college orientation without losing their minds.





	Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! This is the long, main story of a series I've recently started called The End of the World as We Know it. It only has one other part right now, but that part takes place a bit later in this story. Any other parts of this series will be based off of and around Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Loki Svell considered himself very normal, thank you very much. He was a straight A student who hated playing sports, refused to join clubs, and read far too much; he had an older brother and a mother and a father; he'd already finished his college applications. He was the type of student that was on the lower end of the high end, good but not good enough. It was a perfectly normal place to be for someone who wanted to be normal. But he was also the first person you'd think to ask if you needed to get away with something, so long as you had some bit of a mind clunking around in your skull.

It was certainly no explanation for why Loki was kneeling on the dirty linoleum flooring picking the lock to the school's roof when he should be in the cafeteria, but it was certainly a start.

He'd made himself a small tension wrench, as he'd read online, out of a bobby pin he had sneakily stolen from his mother's bathroom and pressed it into the bottom of the keyhole before inserting the pick, which was also just another misshapen bobby pin, into the top of the lock. He jostled the makeshift pick inside the lock, adjusting the poorly made tension wrench whenever he felt a little give on the lock. He could feel the pull of the metal, the push of the little machinery he was tinkering with.

"What are you doing?" The voice, startling because he'd been so focused on the door, wasn't exactly accusing, although it was definitely cautious; and a bit curious.

"None of your business," Loki responded without turning to look, irritation seeping. It couldn't be a teacher, not with that voice, so he kept working. He was so close to unlocking the door and finding freedom on the rooftop of his three story high school.

"Are you trying to pick that lock?" The voice asked again. Accusation was starting to bud, and Loki rolled his eyes. "Is that the door to the roof?"

There was a sudden stop to his pick, and it started to shake, threatening to break; Loki changed directions. "No and no."

There was brief silence as he worked, but he could still feel the stranger's stare burning into his back. Then, after what felt like an hour of silence but might've only been ten seconds, the stranger said, "you can get in serious trouble for that."

"Then don't tell on me," Loki snapped back. "I'm not exactly planning to get caught."

"But you did," the stranger's voice had reverted back to an open curiosity.

Exasperated, Loki dropped his hands to his knees and snapped his head around to stare meanly up at his 'captor.' "So? What? Are you going to snitch on me? Don't be boring like that."

Loki recognized the boy, or perhaps young man was better a word, immediately as the football captain. He was tall and wide with muscle, and his hair was long and messily tied off in a bun which Loki hated instantly. It might've seemed hypocritical to an outside eye, Loki's hair was also long, but, at least, he cleaned his and brushed it and would never put his hair in a bun like _that_.

The young man, the red letters of a football jersey reading _Borson_ flashed across Loki's mind, but he couldn't seem to remember Borson's first name, paused when Loki turned to stare at him, taken aback. But, instead of answering, he asked in disbelief, "are you Byleistr's brother?"

Loki's eyes narrowed in irritation and responded suspicious, "yeah, what of it?"

"Nothing, really, we were just teammates last year. Didn't he get a basketball scholarship or something?" Borson asked. He seemed to be trying not to squirm under Loki's stare, just like everyone else did when he gave them a rude look.

"Doesn't matter," he huffed, returning his attention to the lock. "We're not supposed to be catching up right now. You're supposed to be deciding if you'll tattle or not."

Borson ignored him, again. "I thought you'd be taller."

At those words, he dropped his hands again and stood, whirling around to face Borson at the same time. He looked startled when Loki faced him, standing at the same height and right in his face. "I am tall. Just because my brother's a monster, doesn't mean I have to be."

It was personal, despite how Loki always tried to pretend it wasn't. His father stood at a massive, unnatural height, stooping to walk through doorways; Byleistr was nearly the same, and it made him a sports favorite, earning him a basketball scholarship at their city's university. His mother was just as unusual, tall for a woman, though she didn't come close to her husband or Byleistr. Loki felt cheated that he'd only reached his mother's height.

"Uh, sorry," Borson seemed to want to take a step back, but he doesn't. "I didn't know--"

But Loki doesn't want to hear it, so he cut him off. "Is there anything else I can help you with? Or are you just going to watch me break onto the roof?"

Borson hesitated with Loki still in his face and when, after a stretch of silence, he doesn't say anything, Loki turned around and focused on the lock. He heard Borson settle against the wall shortly after and caught him watching out of the corner of his eye.

Loki didn't manage to pick the lock.

***

When he returned to the door again, it was a Friday, and the first football game of the season. The loud, heavy excitement in the air was roiling, and the cafeteria was full of self-employed students giving each other face-paint jobs, and cheerleaders selling small, fifty cent pompoms, and too-big football players wearing their red-and-white jerseys in celebration of a home game. And, just like any other sport, Loki wanted no part of it. He was a member of the well-known but ignored group of students who refused to wear the school colors on Fridays and would never get asked to homecoming by a football player and couldn't land a cheerleader date if they tried and didn't go to the pep rallies.

All the excitement in the air was the perfect distraction for slipping off into the hallways when he shouldn't be to make an attempt at picking the roof lock again. This time, he came with a screwdriver tucked away in his back pocket; it had been recommended over a bobby pin on a forum Loki found.

As he knelt down in front of the door, screwdriver in one hand, bobby pin in the other, he heard the faint sounds of footfall behind him. Loki turned around, a story on the tip of his tongue when he saw Borson walking towards him, looking like he was trying to be quiet. His blond hair is down this time around his shoulders but still messy, and he's wearing a football jersey that has _Vikings_ in big block letters on the front and a little letter _C_ ironed on.

"Oh, it's you," Loki said without thinking. "Back again?"

"I saw you leaving the cafeteria," Borson explained, pausing in front of him. "You need to be more careful if you're going to be picking locks regularly."

"Or maybe you need to stop watching me," Loki told him, guiding the lock with the screwdriver.

"I'm not," Borson replied lightly, leaning against the wall and hands in the pockets of his khaki pants. "Are you going to the game tonight?"

"Do I look like I'm go to the game tonight?" he counters quickly, eyes still on the lock.

"Thought I'd ask," he grumbled.

Silence extended between them as Loki worked and Borson watched. It was comfortable silence, or, at least, as comfortable as it got with the thick anticipation, the perpetual worry of being caught, and having someone you've met only once watching you. But Loki kept working smoothly even when, after several long minutes of silence, Borson asked, "what's your name?"

"Why?" he asked back without looking up.

"Curious."

Loki paused and examined Borson out of the corner of his eye. Just as quickly, he returned to the lock. "It's Loki."

Borson made a humming sound and then said, "mine's Thor."

"I know," he told him, even though he didn't.

But before either of them could say anymore, there was a popping sound from the door, and Loki leapt to his feet, grinning. He carefully, almost cautiously curled his fingers around the doorknob and turned it, a sliver of sunlight peaking through the crack, and he lifted up onto his tiptoes in excitement.

"Oh wow," Thor came closer to examine it in awe. "I can't believe you actually did it."

Loki ignored his comment in favor of basking in the thrill of his success. He hadn't expected it to take as long as it did, but here was the fruit of his labor. He'd be able to enjoy his free access to the roof all year so long as he was careful not to get caught.

Without warning, although Loki should've been paying attention to the time, the bell rang, and both boys jumped. Loki quickly closed the door and tucked the screwdriver and bobby pin into his pocket and grabbed the backpack leaning against the wall.

"What are you going to do?" Thor asked him, sounding anxious.

"Nothing," he told him breezily.

"You can't just leave it unlocked!"

"Sure I can. So long as nothing suspicious happens, they have no reason to go out onto the roof," Loki explains, patient due to the pleasure of his triumph still coursing through him. "Which means we need to leave now."

Together they set off down the hallway at a brisk walk, a happy smirk still painted on Loki's face. As they neared the hallway's divide, he looked at Thor and said, "this is where we split. I'd wish you good luck, but, actually," Loki started off in the opposite direction as Thor and told him over his shoulder, "I hope you lose the game tonight!"

***

There were clouds in the sky that night, dark despite the seven o'clock sun trying to peak through. There was crackling thunder and tension in the sky, and Loki kept finding himself wishing it would just rain already, but the clouds seemed persistent not to. Byleistr found Loki in the kitchen eating his way through last night's leftovers.

"Not going to the game?" Byleistr asked him offhandedly, rifling through the fridge. Loki had held out hope that the university would make him stay in a dorm, but apparently he lived close enough not to need one.

"I didn't even go to the games when you played, why would I go now?" Loki responded, bored.

"New year, new choices, I guess," Byleistr turned to watch him. "Are you going to eat _all_ those leftovers?"

Loki shot a glare at his brother, arm moving to protectively cradle his plate. " _Yes_."

***

Loki didn't learn until Monday that their team had won the game. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Svell just means sheet of ice. That's it. I did that to him.
> 
> Also, Thor has a man bun, and it kills me. I hate man buns.  
> ________________
> 
> I hope you guys liked this chapter! More will follow in a week or so! Feel free to leave a comment if you want or message me if I made a mistake anywhere!


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